The invention relates to a reduced fat chocolate and to a process for the manufacture of a reduced fat chocolate.
Chocolate is a high fat and high calorie food. A typical commercial dark chocolate will normally comprise non-fat cocoa solids, fat, sugar and emulsifier. A typical commercial milk chocolate will normally comprise non-fat cocoa solids, fat, milk solids, sugar and emulsifier. A typical commercial white chocolate will normally comprise milk solids, fat, sugar and emulsifier. The fat will usually consist of cocoa butter but since cocoa butter is expensive, it is often at least partially replaced with alternative fats such as butterfat or cocoa butter equivalent (CBE). Chocolate may contain many other ingredients; flavours such as vanilla are popular as well as inclusions such as nuts, dried fruit, toffee and biscuit pieces.
A typical commercial dark chocolate has a total fat content in the range of 26 wt % to 50 wt %, a typical commercial milk chocolate has a total fat content in the range of 27 wt % to 45 wt % and a typical commercial white chocolate has a total fat content in the range of 31 wt % to 45 wt %. The calorie content of chocolate is usually around 530 kcal/100 g, of which fat generally provides more than 50%.
Internationally accepted guidelines propose that fat should provide no more than 30 to 35% of an individual's daily calorie intake. In addition, chocolate is high in saturated fats. A high concentration of saturated fats is considered undesirable in view of established adverse health effects associated with such fats.
In good quality chocolate, there is a continuous fat phase which coats all the solid particles and fills the void between them. In theory, reduction in the fat content of chocolate can be simply achieved by reducing the amount of fat ingredients (such as cocoa butter or milk fat) or of fat-containing ingredients (such as cocoa liquor, milk powder or hazelnut) to be mixed with other chocolate-making ingredients to form the chocolate composition. However, there are technical restraints on fat reduction in chocolate. As the fat content is reduced, the overall processing of the chocolate becomes significantly more difficult.
Accordingly it would be desirable to provide a chocolate composition having a reduced fat content whilst maintaining processing parameters similar to those of high fat compositions.
It is generally known to replace sucrose in chocolate with substitutes such as sugar alcohols (also known as polyols). This reduces the calorie content provided by sucrose and therefore the calorie content of the chocolate composition but it does not reduce the fat content of the composition. In some cases the use of polyols in place of sucrose may result in a higher fat content being required in order to give similar processing properties. Sugar alcohols are less sweet than sucrose but generally provide fewer calories because they are incompletely digestible. As with many other incompletely digestible substances, overconsumption can lead to gastro-intestinal effects such as bloating, diarrhoea and flatulence. Erythritol is a sugar alcohol that is better tolerated than the other sugar alcohols because it is excreted via the kidneys. It is almost as sweet as sucrose (70% relative sweetness) and has a calorie content of just 0.2 kcal/g. Erythritol has a high negative heat solution (−180 joules/g) that provides a significant cooling effect in the mouth. This effect combines well with mint flavours, e.g. in chewing gums, but can be less desirable in other types of confectionery such as chocolate.
Erythritol is commonly combined with inulin and fructo oligosaccharide (FOS) which offer a complementary positive heat of solution. FOS and inulin are used as low calorie bulking agents. They are not digested in the human small intestine and thus have a lower caloric value whilst contributing dietary fibre to the diet. Unfortunately inulin and FOS have a propensity to cause bloating and flatulence when consumed in moderate to large quantities.
An oligosaccharide is a saccharide polymer containing a small number (typically three to ten) of component sugars, also known as simple sugars. FOS is based on fructose, galacto oligosaccharide (GOS) is based on galactose and xylo oligosaccharide (XOS) is based on xylose.